Cambridge Medicine Students and Applicants

Hi all,

I wanted to find out what my chances are because I hear that its very slim for international students to be accepted for medicine at oxbridge.

My teachers are very skeptical and I am a little disheartened because almost everyone I've spoken to is very doubtful of my chances of success purely because I am a prospective international applicant. There is a myth going around at our school that because of the quota for Medicine, they hardly take people of relatively well-off socio-economic status. I would die if my chances were diminished purely based on my nationality or background -something that I cannot control. I have been slaving away at school hoping to increase my chances. I recieved 10A*s in my GCSEs and am currently predicted a 45 for the IB. I've done everything in my power to enhance my profile from voluntary work and work experience to wider reading and am participating in a range of extra-curricular activities.

Please advise! I am very worried! I don't know what else I can do. Could anyone shed some light on my prospects of a successful application?!

Going back to the discussion about Anatomy, it is my experience that the cambridge course teaches a LOT of anatomy, and pretty damned well. I sat the first part of the MRCS not too long ago, and the amount of anatomy revision I needed to do was pretty minuscule compared to my colleagues who studied elsewhere, despite learning anatomy 7 years ago...

So, and I'm suggesting this tentatively, the Cambridge course is good if you wish to pursue a surgical career? Not that I think it also disfavours the more medically inclined, though.

Not necessarily. It might help you pass the basic college exams, but there is a lot more to it than that! Also, the other parts of the course are taught at a pretty high standard, so help out immensely with the MRCP as well.

I'd like to alter your suggestion to "the Cambridge course is good if you want to pass the written post-graduate exams. "

Hi all,

I wanted to find out what my chances are because I hear that its very slim for international students to be accepted for medicine at oxbridge.

My teachers are very skeptical and I am a little disheartened because almost everyone I've spoken to is very doubtful of my chances of success purely because I am a prospective international applicant. There is a myth going around at our school that because of the quota for Medicine, they hardly take people of relatively well-off socio-economic status. I would die if my chances were diminished purely based on my nationality or background -something that I cannot control. I have been slaving away at school hoping to increase my chances. I recieved 10A*s in my GCSEs and am currently predicted a 45 for the IB. I've done everything in my power to enhance my profile from voluntary work and work experience to wider reading and am participating in a range of extra-curricular activities.

Please advise! I am very worried! I don't know what else I can do. Could anyone shed some light on my prospects of a successful application?!

I'm starting next week and can't manage to find out any info about when supervisions would tend to be, and how many of them you have?

Hi, just had my mock interview for medicine at my college- which was SUPPOSED to roughly replicate Cambridge interviews (bundle of lies). The questions were along the lines of:

'Why do you want to become a doctor?'
'What qualities do you think a medical student should possess?'
'Do you think that you have the abovementioned qualities?'
'What do you think is your best quality in terms of becoming a doctor?'

And so on so forth.

Problem is, I'm not that effusive of a character and I hate self-glorification, so if interviews are going to be in this sort of format, my chances are next to nil. Will any questions like those be asked or are interviews purely academic in nature?

Advice about international interviews would be greatly appreciated!

My interview, and all those I am aware of, were almost entirely scientific. Some colleges have an "academic" and a "personal" interview, and you may be asked some of those questions in the personal interview, but the majority of questions for Cambridge will be quite science-oriented.

2. I was told by teachers/friends at school that I should know the AS/A2 syllabuses for biology/chemistry really well, as they will test you on A2 content in the interview. How true is this? As I know the interviews are largely science based, but will we be expected to know A2 content?

Hi, I'm a prospective student for 2013. I gather that year 3 of the medicine course is research led. what does this mean?

Hi, I'm a prospective student for 2013. I gather that year 3 of the medicine course is research led. what does this mean?